Laughter Through Tears

Entries tagged with helping

I had a breakthrough on my help_japan fic. The one that I've been working on for a year? The one that I've been totally stuck on since about August? Yeah.

I can't tell yet if it's any good, but I got the idea and I was at the computer, so I wrote down some notes right into the story file. I'm going to have to rework the whole last third of what I already had down, but I think it's worth it because it will make the story much better, instead of it just going to pieces towards the end.

Whoops I forgot to update my journal in almost two weeks. No idea why. I've still been checking my DW basically every day.

Stuff that happened in that time:

Got a Twitter (here), at the behest of a couple of Israeli friends. There are massive fiscal-related protests in Israel right now and Twitter is one of the online epicenters of news and discussion. A bunch of my tweets and retweets are in Hebrew, just so you know.

Finished my very last piece of work for the semester, which was a mock research proposal that turned out more complicated than I'd anticipated.

Watched Green Lantern a couple of weeks ago and found it fairly dull, having not enough aliens and not nearly enough shiny explody green stuff -- too much talking and ~character drama~. Watched Captain America last night and found it much more enjoyable.

The new light rail in Jerusalem opened. I was on it yesterday to get to the movie and so far it is pretty terrible.

Wrote a bunch of anonymous fic, and also made a bit of progress on my absurdly late help_japan fic. It will be sad, I think, but perhaps bittersweet. It is also getting my mind on perhaps writing some more VM fic, after I finish it. Right now, though, finishing it is my top writing priority, and then getting a good beta.

Things that are still to happen:

In a week I'm flying to Atlanta with my brother for DragonCon. Eep.

Finishing an anonymous WIP that I've been working on all summer and spring and posting it to AO3, possibly after extensive editing/beta. This is a thing that is going to happen.

When offices at uni open again, calling the life sciences secretaries and figuring out whether my lab request was approved. This has to happen before I sign up for classes. Then I have to sign up for classes when, yet again, I will take more courses on my first semester than I am comfortable with, due to 'constraints' (had to look that up on morfix).

Apparently I've left my restraint in my other jeans, because I signed up for remix_goes_wild. Ignore the fact that I committed to anon fills, I just started a text adventure, I haven't started my help_japan fic, plus junetide for original fic and, oh yeah, didn't I sign up for mundane_bingo fifty thousand years ago?

Also I have a test Sunday, two lab reports due, it's the holidays etc. etc. non-writing obligations.

But no, no. What's really bothering me now? The fact that I don't have enough fandoms to offer, and maybe I should go through some of my old fic to see if it's still any good. (I'll let you in on a secret, most of it sort of blows.)

ETA: It got worse. For some reason I decided to look up my bingo square while I was reading up on translation initiation, and I'm pretty sure I've got a horizontal center for the Homestuck exiles, and a vertical for the exiles. I am even pretty sure I'll do a free square fill that includes both.

I am offering 1000 words or more on help_japan. I am also in the process of beefing up my AO3 to give people an idea of what they can expect. I am also willing to write virtually anything within the fandoms I'm offering, and willing to negotiate other fandoms.

Sadly, the purimgifts treats I wrote won't be revealed before the auction ends, so you'll just have to take my word for it they're good. :D

Yesterday Japan experienced the largest earthquake in its recorded history*. An auction for donations is being held at help_japan. One does not need a DW account to offer or bid. I intend to both offer and bid very soon. I will likely be offering fanfic, or possibly postcards. I believe there is also a sister comm on LJ for those who prefer. Bids and offers are supposed to open at the end of the day.

* Not, as I previously thought, the largest ever, which was in Chile in 1960.

Woke up at 8 AM to make it to the market while the temperature is still bearable. This was a trying but wise move, and I came back with substantial loot: 4 rolls, 4 cucumbers, 4 carrots, 4 peaches and 2 mangoes. That oughta keep me until the test on Thursday. Another wise move: not showering till I got back.

My virus infection relapsed a bit last night at about 1 AM. If I see another relapse I might need a pro cleanup. D:

Bidding on help_pakistan closed last night (my time) and my offer got a highest bid of 50$! OMG! Anyway, I have a test and then some medical chores, but starting Monday I'm collecting the items to box. Hopefully my recipient will e-mail me with demands/requests.

So there was an earthquake in Pakistan and a lot of people are in trouble. Lots of enterprising people have set up help_pakistan, an auction offering all sorts of fandom and non-fandom things to the highest bidder, and benefiting a number of relevant charities, such as the Red Cross/Crescent, UNICEF, and many others. Although the previous auction, help_haiti, was wildly successful, I did not find the time to participate.

Now I'm asking (as far and wide as this reaches, if you're reading this on your network page or such), what should I offer?

My writing skills are comatose. I can offer beta services for original fic or a few fandoms. I can offer a box od Jerusalem-related goodies. I can possibly offer home-made baked goods, although I don't know how my skills measure up. I could make something with something that's grown locally and is in season, for example. I'm trying to think about filling a niche, since I'm pretty sure I could be outdone in most things.

As to the latter, I am keeping a close eye on it, looking for boxes of books and other items of interest. I can only afford to bid once, so I want to make sure I hit something that I like, and especially something that has not yet been bid on so as to maximize the overall donations. The mods and members have been working like dogs keeping up inventory lists, it's incredible. I am also considering offering an item up for bidding, either an Israeli grab-box (since marina's seems to be a hit) or a mix CD of Hebrew songs with translations and notes, for the language geeks. That's if I determine that there could be an interest in such a thing. I'm talking about something more detailed than the stuff I sometimes send friends.

In minor news, exams start in a week and I am dedicating today to understanding the basics of Newtonian mechanics. I did actually see an offer for math/physics tutoring on HH, but I'm not sure an hour for 10$ would do me much good. This strip is the best webcomic about velociraptors vs. unicorns you'll ever read. The muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody has already made the rounds a couple of months ago, but bears repeating.

As early as April (Passover) I might be moving to a new apartment that's much closer to the relevant bus lines, cutting down my morning walk to the bus-station from its current 10-20 minutes uphill. It would also be owned by my father, so would be a much more stable arrangement, and more convenient financially. I am trying not to get too excited prematurely, but the outlook is good. And now, off to my physics.

Oh! And for a belated Follow Friday, I created a feed for thebooksmugglers_feed, one of my favorite book review blogs. They review a lot of fantasy and science fiction, but also an assortment of other genres. The feed is a couple of days old, so already past the technically necessary spamming age. meganbmoore reviews lots of SFF, mystery, historical and romance books, among others, and her reviews are a delightful mix of thoughtful and hilarious. I am reading so many good reviewers lately that my virtual TBR pile is reaching absurd proportions.